


Okay With It

by jayy (spaloozey)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: And anxiety, Angst, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Ironically, Poisoning, Violence, against plants, and panic attacks, but also absent, is fast burn a thing because that's what this is, lance has ADHD, pidge is supportive, tragedy and love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2020-07-27 19:10:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20051107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spaloozey/pseuds/jayy
Summary: Canon divergence with Plance in the works. Everyone fought off Honerva together and no one sacrificed themselves to save every reality, they simply united their magic. Now Allura leads Altea, Lotor, the Galra, and Pidge and Lance are the head of Earth's space patrolling force. They've been policing criminals, rescuing drifters, and disputing alien skirmishes for years.. until one day.. everything goes terribly wrong.





	1. Poison

**Author's Note:**

> This will be a short multichap! Maybe 4-5 chapters long at most. It's all pre-finished though and just needs some editing, so they should all go up within a few days of each other! 
> 
> Also I'd really like to thank all the friendly, amazing people on the OC discord for helping me make this fic and encouraging me to finish it! If it weren't for you guys, this wouldn't be here! So thank you all so much.
> 
> And to all the readers out there, enjoy! <3

Pidge wiped her glasses clean, sliding them back onto her head with eagle-like precision, as though they could actually help her read. "Need help.." she translated, "ship's engine has failed." Her eyes skimmed over the coordinates given. "Sounds like a typical search and rescue to me.." she relayed to Lance.

  
Lance, who had been busy playing with the butt of his gun, made a loud whining noise in complaint, resting his chin on the back of her roller-chair. "Again? Isn't there anything else people need? Like help against a galra attack or something?"

Pidge frowned at him. "You know it's been years since the Galra have caused any trouble. Now that Lotor's in charge, everything's peaceful. Besides, you'll see plenty of action when Allura comes back from her mission, remember? We're going to be training the altean cadets."    
  
Lance pouted, "That hardly counts," he said.

Pidge rolled her eyes. "It does so. Now c'mon, let's get this mission over with."   
  


Lance skulked his way after Pidge, face fallen, but otherwise compliant.

They entered the changing room together, since they never cared to separate by gender. Pidge took off her shirt, revealing her black sports bra, and dared a glance at the back of Lance's head. When they started working for the police force, Pidge was still small and formless, but now she had grown into her more feminine features. Pidge was rather happy with herself, if she was being honest, but Lance still never looked her way.

Pidge was about to ask Lance whether or not he wanted her deodorant when suddenly a loud static sound interrupted her thoughts.

"Lance! Pidge! Hurry up!" Iverson's voice boomed over the loudspeakers. "That planet is a Class 9 Inhospitable zone. We don't want our friend dying before you get there."

"Quiznak." Pidge cursed under her breath, zipping up her black skin-tight suit. 

They hurried towards the pod bay, bayards at their hips, and Pidge hopped in the driver's seat, waiting for Lance to get in. 

"Pidge.." Lance started to whine.   
  
Pidge rolled her eyes. "Lance, It's my turn and we're in a hurry. Just get in and let me pilot"

"But.. you owe me one for last time." he whimpered, puppy-dog-eyes slowly apparating on his face.

Pidge tapped her foot on the floor of the pod several times, crossing her arms. "Fine." she huffed, "but next time I get to pilot twice." she said.

Lance nodded enthusiastically, leaping into the pilot's chair. Unfortunately he misjudged how far Pidge was out of her seat as he did so.

"Ouch!" Pidge complained, having been hit by Lance's tush. "Easy dude." 

"Sorry Pidge!! Gotta hurry though!" Lance apologized as he jammed the keys into the ignition and roughly backed them out of the pod bay.

Pidge's stomach flipped. She didn't like Lance piloting all that much. He wasn't bad at it, in fact, he was better than she was, but the brash and irregular moves he made did NOT agree with her stomach, especially during this time of the month.

"Can you please fly a little smoother please? I think I'm gonna pull a Hunk." Pidge mumbled.

"No can do, Hunk-in-training, we gotta get there fast." Lance told her.

Pidge grimaced. The planet was right in front of them, and she was not looking forward to hitting the atmosphere. They approached cautiously, Lance slowing down his speed a little to test the waters of the atmosphere, so to speak. They entered the reddish-purple haze, and a panel tore loose from the front of the pod, making Pidge's heart stutter.

"Uhhh, what kind of gas is that?" Pidge asked. She didn't have a lot of equipment on her pod, just her flat-screen phone and her communication device, so she couldn't be sure what they were flying into, but she did have a hunch..

Lance cursed, steering the ship away from the planet’s toxic atmosphere. “I don't know what it is. You're the genius, right? Don't you have any ideas?” he asked her.

Pidge hesitated. Genius, huh.. “I DO have an idea. Hold on, let me get the shields up. It should protect us for about thirty minutes, enough time to get in and get out fast.” she reported.

Lance smiled nervously. “Only 30 minutes to rescue a guy on a toxic planet filled with deadly gas? Easy, no problem, de nada.”

Pidge chuckled. She took out her hacking jack and connected her phone to the pod’s settings, adjusting for her makeshift shield. The standard pods didn’t have a shield feature, but the one they were using was a prototype, which Pidge designed. It had all sorts of features hidden in the codes.

Pidge pressed the activation button on her phone and watched their pod light up, a hexagonal, orange barrier surrounding their vessel. 

“Alright Pidge! Nice.” Lance complimented.

Pidge smiled. “Of course. Leave it to the genius."

Lance steered the ship down into the purple haze below. He hit a few bumps, but it was nothing their new shield couldn't handle.

After a few minutes, they drew close to the source of the signal. Pidge listened to the beeps on her device intently. “We’re almost there..” Pidge relayed, “Only thirty ticks at our current speed and we’ll be on top of him.”

"Good," Lance said. He stepped on the gas, and Pidge nearly screamed. They made it in fifteen ticks, arriving at what appeared to be a completely monochromatic flower field. Pidge tried to steady her breathing and act natural as she exited the pod. The ground beneath her feet was an odd indigo, so similar to the water's color that Pidge almost didn't see the puddle of oozing poison she was about to step in.

"Hey, watch out!" Lance called, and tugged her arm so she missed the puddle.

Pidge breathed him her thanks, eyeing the large body of poison nervously.

Their suits seemed to be able to handle the atmosphere ok, but Pidge did not want to find out if they could withstand such a condensed liquid poison. She edged away from the puddle taking a look at the landscape around her. Pidge had never seen a landscape so ** _ purple_ ** in her life. Not in the daytime, at least. The grass was a deep shade of indigo, the trees, a dark magenta. And the flowers themselves were such a rich royal purple that Pidge was tempted to lean down and pick one up. She didn't of course, but she really wanted to.

"Pidge!" Lance gasped in alarm, cutting off her thoughts.   
  
Pidge's head snapped up to look where he was pointing. In front of them was a great poisonous lake, oozing and bubbling and giving off steam. Stuck in that lake was an older model TF-2 ship, it's hull sizzling at the edges where it was beginning to melt. Alarm bells rang in Pidge's head.

  
"Quiznak," Pidge cursed. "We've gotta get over to him!"   
  
Activating their jetpack boosters, the frantic paladins made their way over to the sinking ship, hovering over the vessel's escape hatch with uncertainty and unease.

"It's welded shut." Lance noted, "Hold on, I'll blast it open," he decided, taking out his bayard. 

"WAIT!" Pidge yelled. "DON'T FIRE THAT!"   
  
Lance froze, looking kind of shocked at Pidge's volume. Pidge on the other hand, sighed a breath of relief, and drew her own bayard.   
  
"YOUR bayard has the chemical RH9 in it's lazer deconstruction system so naturally combined with XE42-"

Lance groaned, "English, Pidge, please."

Pidge rolled her eyes "What I'm TRYING to say is that your laser fire reacts badly with the gas in this atmosphere. You should probably put it away. You're lucky I stopped you in time."   
  
"What would've happened if you didn't?" Lance asked, visibly sweating.   
  
"We would've all exploded." Pidge explained.   
  
"Oh." Lance replied shortly, putting his bayard away. "Well.. thanks for stopping me then."   
  
"De nada.." Pidge said, repeating Lance's earlier phrase. She jammed her own bayard into the door, hearing it slide in with a satisfying hiss. HER bayard did not consist of RH9. It was all clean energy for the green paladin.

Pidge finally managed to jack the melted doorframe open, releasing a panicked breath as she saw the alien man motionless inside the cockpit. "Lance!" she said, tone tight. "Your scanner!"

Lance saw what was going on and brought it out. He let the light run over the alien's form several times before hitting the button on the bottom. He sighed, clearly relieved. "He's alright, just unconscious. The thought of melting in a pit of oozing liquid probably made the poor guy faint."   
  
Pidge sighed. "He's lucky then. Come on, help me pull him up," she said, leaning down and grabbing the man's left arm.   
  
"Alright, just so long as I get to pilot on the way back!" Lance insisted.

Pidge never got the chance to reply.

Something soft and slimy had slithered up the back of her leg, and before she knew what was happening, the world spun out from under her in a dizzying array of purple and blue. Her face hit the dirt, and suddenly she was being dragged backwards, away from the ship, away from Lance, and into the woods.    
  
"LANCE!" Pidge screamed.

  
"PIDGE!! HOLD ON!" Lance's voice returned. He scrambled her way, dropping his bayard so he could reach out to her with both his hands. Pidge reached out a hand of her own. Their fingertips brushed briefly, and Pidge could swear she could see the blue in Lance's eyes, before her whole world was shirked away. 

Her visor cracked, and a sudden influx of XE42 began to hit her lungs. The pain was so sharp and so nauseating Pidge couldn't breathe. She coughed and gagged as sudden bursts of flame erupted through her esophagus, spitting through her lungs and discharging from her lips. The world tinted purple, green, then blue as spots danced behind her eyes.

Pidge knew these would probably be her final moments. The gas on this planet was potent enough to kill a full-grown human in twenty vargas, for someone her size.. 

Her consciousness began to fade and her thoughts became hazy. She came to a halt somewhere in the middle of the forest and she heard the rustle of plants moving behind her.  _ Carnivorous Axen Heads _ . Pidge thought, and she realized she was doomed.

  
_ Lance _ ... _ .. Lance….  _ she crooned _ . I'm sorry..  _ Her final thoughts were only muted memories of him, drifting in and out of focus as the world went black...


	2. Do or Die

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thing's take one disastrous turn after another.. But will Lance give up?

Lance panicked as soon as Pidge hit the ground. The ship behind him was submerging with a gurgling ooze, but Pidge was right there in front of him, he could still reach her, if he just moved now.

  
He hesitated a split second too long.

As he shouted her name and stumbled over the weird, purple grass, Lance knew he was too late. He lurched forward, attempting to grab at his partner's outstretched hand, and their fingertips brushed. But Pidge's were cruelly and quickly plucked away from him just as soon as he reached them, disappearing into the dark, purple woods before he could even blink.

The forest was oddly silent. Lance stared numbly at where Pidge had been a moment before, unable to breathe. Behind him, the victim's ship bubbled and hissed, and Lance banged his fist hard against the ground. He had been just a second off! One second! If only he had moved sooner.... If only he had tried harder...

Lance screamed in frustration, biting back tears. Fuming, he returned to the ship and pulled the unconscious man from the hull, leaving him to lie in the tall, royal blue grass. "I'll be right back," he whispered, before wandering into the trees after Pidge.

The forest was confusing.

There was no green. No brown. The colors were indigo and purple and pink, reminding Lance of Alice in Wonderland's cheshire cat. The way the plants seemed to move.. and breathe.. was very indicative that he might of actually fallen down a rabbit hole. Or smacked his head a little too hard. One of the two.

Lance took a step forward. His boot crunched glass and his breathing stopped. Was that..? 

Somewhere ahead of him, a swarm of plants were writhing and hissing. Lance drew his bayard quietly. He almost fired a shot at one of the plants nearest to him, before remembering what Pidge had told him about his laser fire.   
  
_ Oh right.. Yeah. Don't wanna explode. _ He thought, changing the bayard into altean broadsword form instead. _ Guess I have to do this Keith style. _

Sneaking around behind the swarm of plants, Lance caught a glimpse of what they were feeding on, and his vision turned as red as his bayard. "PIDGE!" he screamed, launching himself out from behind the brushes and spearing the nearest Axen head. He was already on the next Axen head before the first one could hit the ground, slicing and hacking, roaring and screaming, he sliced and sliced and sliced until he could slice no more, every one of the enemies having been shred to ribbons. He was covered in purple and indigo, blood from the animate plants and clumps of goo from their innards. 

Lance didn't care though. He dropped his bayard and fell to his knees in front of Pidge, his vision clearing so he could see how pathetic her form was for the first time. 

She was covered in purple guck from head to toe, purple mixing with red where the Axen heads had scratched and bit her. Her visor was indeed cracked, a whole chunk of glass missing from the bottom of it, letting the poison into her suit. Lance checked to make sure she was still breathing and began trying to rouse her.

"Pidge… Pidge.. are you ok? Can you hear me?" He tried calling her name for several more seconds, but nothing was getting through. 

"Pidge.." Lance whimpered lamely. He shut his eyes. The tide of emotion that had begun welling up from inside of him began overflowing, flooding his eyelashes. It dripped down onto his uncracked visor, showing him his own pathetic reflection. His stupid lungs suddenly struggled to breathe. _ Useless, _ he thought to himself. _ I'm just so useless _. He wanted to rip his visor off his stupid head and shove it onto Pidge's, giving his clean air to someone that actually needed it. But he knew that wouldn't help her.

_ She's already inhaled too much poison _ . _ If I really want to give her a fighting chance.. I need to bring her back to the ship. _

Lance stood up fast, cursing himself for having wasted so much time. Picking Pidge's light form off the grass gently, he slung her over his shoulder, heading for the place he left the unconscious alien man. "Stay with me Pidge.. I promise, I won't let you die." he told her.

Lance could feel her breathing on the back of his suit. The sensation both relieved and alarmed him._ I've got to get back fast _, he realized. He really wished he had something to cover the hole in her helmet with, but everything on the planet was either as poisonous, or venomous, as the air she was breathing. It would only make things worse.

  
He shifted her off his back and into his arms bridal style, so that his jet boosters wouldn't hit her. "Hang on Pidge." he said, knowing she couldn't hear him.

They all but flew through the trees, Lance's boosters cranked up to full speed. He nervously watched the woods around them as they went, understandably weary of the purple foliage.

Pidge coughed into his breast plate suddenly, and a purple liquid sprayed them both, painting her lips with the color.

_ That can't be good. _Lance thought. 

Lance all but exploded through the trees, stumbling over to the side of the pod and Lance hoisting Pidge into the passenger seat. He almost forgot about the man he left laying on the grass next to the lake. Almost.

He went back for him and hurriedly buckled him into the back, running back around the pod to get back into the pilot's seat.

"Alright, ok, mission accomplished, now we just gotta-" 

The engine of the pod sputtered, refusing to respond to the ignition.

"No No No NO!" Lance screamed, hitting the dashboard with his fist. "We don't have time for this!"Lance almost panicked again, but seeing Pidge next to him, barely breathing, he took in a long deep breath for himself. 

"Ok.." he said, "Lance, think!"

Common sense didn't fail him today as he separated Pidge's bag from her unconscious form and searched through its contents. "Comms… comms… yes!" Finding what he was looking for, Lance flipped through Pidge's flat screen phone until he found the communications app. He opened up a line with the Atlas, and waited.

Iverson connected. "Lance? What's going on?"

  
"We've got our friend, but Pidge was attacked and severely poisoned. We need help! Our ship's engines aren't working, and Pidge is in critical condition. We're gonna need a rescue pod." Lance relayed.

"Lan--" the audio was garbled and hard to make out, static overlapping certain words, "we can't send anymore ships, you have to-- the engine -- flip the."  


"What?" Lance asked, "Iverson- hello? Hello?"  
  
A bead of sweat slicked down his cheek as he pulled the phone away from his ear. The line had gone dead, and Lance was left with nothing but the eerie clues Iverson's words had left him.

"The engine?" Lance murmured, "Flip what?" 

  
Lance tore his gaze from the phone to look around the unknown buttons and levers on the ship's interior. He knew about half of them, the other half though.. were a mystery. He decided to start by checking the engine, and pressed the lever that opened the back-end of the ship. Jumping out of his seat in the cockpit, Lance made his way over to the engine, only to back away at the sight. 

There was purple gelatinous goo.. _ everywhere _. On the engine itself.. On the quintessence leveler. On all the pipes and electronics. Lance couldn't believe how gunked up it had gotten in such a short amount of time. 

"Nothing I can do but.. clean it." he guessed. Lance pulled out the towel from the storage unit and set to work, extricating the oozing substance as carefully, and as quickly, as he could. After about five doboshes, the interior of the engine compartment was all but sparkling, and the warning light on the dashboard of the cockpit was no longer glowing red.

Lance took that as a good sign, and jumped back into the cockpit. He flipped the ignition, only to get a guttural cough. Lance ground his teeth in frustration. "What else am I supposed to do?!" he chewed out, then looked at Pidge.

"Pidge," he said softly, shaking her shoulders. "Pidge!!" his tone grew in urgency, but she did not wake. Her breathing was erratic now, and she looked to be in a great deal of pain. Lance bit his lip, trying to think, but nothing of use came to mind. He wasn't the engineer here after all: Pidge was. Pidge could solve all their problems in a jiffy, giving a great smug grin every time she did something genius. Which was like every few minutes! Lance couldn't keep up with the girl. She was so smart, talented.. out of his league..

"Meanwhile, I'm a total airhead.." Lance lamented to himself, grinning in bitter ammusement. "I wish I had brains lik-"

  
Lance sat forward suddenly, a thought striking his head like electricity.

"AIR!" he yelled, "THAT'S IT!" 

Twisting around so he could reach the panel above him, Lance hit the air filter that he remembered Pidge talking about. 

\----

"Lance.." Pidge had said. "Lance! Are you paying attention?" she huffed out.

Lance was playing with his helmet, honestly struggling with all the words Pidge had been throwing at him. "Uh huh.." Lance remarked, his thoughts colliding with each other and getting him distracted as they usually do.   
  
Pidge crossed her arms. Lance sourly wished his medication order would hurry up and make it to him in space.

"I mean.. yeah! Yeah I'm listening." He said apologetically. "I'm trying Pidge."

Pidge looked at him a little more softly than she did before. She blinked once, slowly, and Lance couldn't help but stare at her eyelashes as though they were the broom sweeping him off of his feet. Even though she had short hair and a boyish temperament… Pidge could be very pretty sometimes..  
  
"I know.." she sighed softly. "But we're almost done, ok?" she asked diligently.

Lance nodded hesitantly, leaning in to try and absorb the last of her words.

Pidge leaned back and pointed at the panel above her head. "These control and manage the engine's functions." She explained. She went into a few details about the booster engines, and the way the quintessence flow worked, before drawing his attention to a small red switch on the bottom, queuing him in with a glance.

"And THIS," she said, with emphasis, "is the engine's air filter. It's function is vital in atmospheres that give off gases not compatible with the engine's air intake." she said.

Lance was a little confused, but he got the gist of what she was saying. Something was bothering him, though, so he voiced a question: "How come we've never had to use it before then?" 

Pidge smiled widely at him, genuine appreciation gracing her face. "For once.. that's a brilliant question Lance," she praised. Then she turned back around and opened up the engine's compartment to show him while she talked. "You see.. usually the air filter is automatic. On our lions and in certain ships, there's no need for a manual switch on the air filter at all. But because of the way the Pod's engines work.. when the ignition is turned off, the pod has to filter in outside air to cool, so it does so by itself when the engine turns off. In dangerous atmospheres, that is a BAD thing."  
  
Lance nodded. "Bad air in engine is a bad thing," he simplified. "Got it."

Pidge smiled. "Yep," she confirmed. "So.. if you don't want the engine's intake to mix with bad chemicals in the air, you have to flip this switch to make sure it doesn't take any in, and then open up two-way-filter vents to let the hot hair out."  
  
At this point Lance was definitely lost, but he understood the main idea. He tried repeating it outloud for her: "Don't want bad air inside, use two-way filter vents."

Pidge sighed in relief. "You got it Lance. Now you know how to pilot an Atlas pod."  
  
Lance grinned. Shouldn't be too hard to remember..

\---

  
He forgot.

Lance couldn't believe himself.

He completely ** _FORGOT_ ** to open the two-way filter vents.

How could he call himself a pilot if he couldn't even remember the controls to his ship?  
  
Lance leaned heavily against the pod's exterior, breathing shakily. It must've slipped past him when they flew in.. Pidge rigging the shield and the responsibility of being pilot for a dangerous mission had him completely distracted, and now the engine might never work. Pidge would die here while they waited for help to come.

"No…" Lance teared up. "No no no no ** _NO_ **!" 

  
He slid down the side of the pod, his knees giving way. He knew he still had to get them out of this mess.. but his brain was overwhelming him.. Plaguing him with thoughts of his past failures, and making it hard to breathe.

  
"Why? Why was I chosen by blue all those years ago? Why did they make _ ME _ a hero? I'm damaged.. broken.. I shouldn't even be allowed to drive a car, let alone save someone's life. God DAMN it!"

He threw his fists into the side of the pod, denting it. He tried to breathe steadily, but it was getting harder and harder to do so. A great wasp's nest of dread buzzed in his chest, burning and stinging and spreading through to the rest of his body. He tried to move but he was paralyzed. 

A soft groan caught his attention suddenly, and the buzzing stopped. He got to his feet shakily, and checked on his passengers. The alien pilot was waking up!

"Ghh.." he uttered intelligibly, "Where am I?"

_ Still stuck on this planet with me. _ Lance thought bitterly, but he didn't say it. Instead, he internally chided himself. _ It's not just me stuck in this situation! It's both of them as well. We've got to get them out of here Lance.. Panic can wait. _

  
He looked to Pidge. She was getting paler and paler by the second, and Lance had been wasting a whole bunch of time.

Lance felt sweat slick down his face. He had cleaned the engines.. Maybe if he reversed the air intake for a few minutes, the engines would start to work again.

It was a longshot, Lance realized, but it was better than not trying anything.

Lance hopped back in the pilot seat, reassuring the alien man behind him with a tight smile. "We came here to pick you up." he informed the man, "Rest easy, we're about to get you off this poisonous rock." 

"We?" the man asked shakily, before noticing the near-dead co-pilot in the other seat. "Woah, is she okay? What happened while I was out??" The man asked in a rapid-fire manner, then shrank back. "It's not contagious is it?" he spat out fearfully.

Lance ground his molars together, flipping some switches on the panel behind him. "Of course it isn't." he said, with a forced smile. 

He and the man sat in silence for a few minutes, listening to the air flow out of the engine compartment, when Lance took a shaky breath. 

_ This is it _ , he decided. _ Do or die. _

He flipped the ignition...

...And the engine roared to life.


	3. Lance

Lance whipped his head around as a female nurse approached. The nurse stepped back a few feet, startled, but Lance didn't seem to notice. He quickly grabbed her hand and asked her if Pidge was okay.    
  
"Well.. it's complicated…." The nurse began.

"Complicated?" Lance asked. He couldn't handle complicated.

"Yes.. You see.."    
  
The nurse explained the various details of Pidge's condition, and Lance's face fell. He sunk back into his plastic waiting room seat, head retreating into his hands.

"How can..… that can't be true.." he sobbed. 

The nurse looked at him sadly. She rested a petite hand on his shoulder, to which Lance didn't respond, before disappearing back into the corridor she came down. 

  
"Pidge.." Lance whispered.

  
  


\---

  
  
  


The news of Pidge's condition spread fast. First, Lance told Shiro. He needed a firm hand and a strong leader in this situation, and Shiro was happy to give him both. He visited Lance in the hospital three separate times that day- all between shifts at work -and comforted him whenever he felt close to breaking down.

"You know Lance.. these things happen. It isn't any one person's fault. It's just how military work goes." He'd said.

Lance knew. Everyone knew. That's why Shiro quit. The hero business was too exhausting for him. Being the leader type had its disadvantages, and those disadvantages were exacerbated when it came to life or death situations. Shiro couldn't be blamed for that.

But Lance could. He had been the clear leader in this two-man situation. Pidge was the brainsy-wiz sidekick, and Lance was the gungho leader.. the protector… the one who always had her back. Except his time, he didn't. It was his fault she was in this mess.

Unfortunately, Hunk came next. His best buddy, his friend, and the person Shiro told when he figured no one else could cheer Lance up. 

Lance was huddled up on the couch, his usual spot, when Hunk burst in with a plate of cookies, knocking a nurse on the ground. "Oh, I'm sorry miss!" Hunk apologized, and helped her up. "Do you know where my buddy Lance is?" he asked her once she was in a more upright position. 

The nurse, rather disheveled, pointed towards the pathetic heap huddling under a jacket on the couch. Hunk's expression dropped. He took a step closer.

"Lance..?" he asked slowly.

Lance didn't answer. He solemnly wished Hunk would just turn around and leave, but he didn't. He carefully removed the jacket from Lance's slouched form and sat down next to him, expression equivalent to that of a kicked puppy. That made Lance nearly break down all over again. Hunk's embrace was soft and warm and smelled good. He offered Lance a cookie once he settled down.

"It's okay bud.. You know she won't blame you for it, right? It's just part of the job." Hunk tried to assure him.

Lance sniffed. "I know she won't, but that's the shitty part. I _ deserve _ to be blamed, Hunk. I messed up big time.. and it cost her.." Lance's lips quivered. He couldn't say it. 

"I know buddy, I know." Hunk sniffed. "Just, remember it'll get better all right? She'll get used to it, and so will you."

Lance really hoped that was true.

Allura and Lotor were much easier. It was clear Allura hadn't slept that night, but she smiled and handed Lance their gifts for Pidge nonetheless. Lotor was holding her hand the whole time, solemnly giving Lance his condolences and recommending science research labs where they did experiments. Lance didn't really fully understand what he was saying, but nodded along to it all the same. 

"That's very nice Lotor.. But I think I already know what Pidge will want to do."   
  
Lotor's eyes narrowed. "Ah.. yes. She was the pilot of the green lion, wasn't she? That makes sense." He cleared his throat. "Of course. If she wishes to try.."   
  
Lance jumped forward, expression desperate, "I-I'll help her with it of course! I've been reading up on it and I know all the basics.. That is.. if she WANTS me to help.." Lance trailed off.

Allura gave him a pitying look. Lance didn't like it, but she put an arm on his shoulder and assured him that he'd already been doing enough. That only made Lance feel about a thousand times worse, but he thanked her for her kind words anyway.

It was only when they left that Lance noticed Keith lingering in his biker jacket near the waiting room entrance. He looked as cool as usual, arms crossed as he leaned against the wall like he was waiting for his girlfriend or something. Only thing was, Keith still didn't have a girlfriend. Nor did Lance. 

"Keith, what are you doing here man?"   
  
"Lance.." Keith's eyes opened, and his mouth formed a tight line as he appraised the boy's pitiful form. His hair had been messed with and teased and yet he hadn't showered in two days. His jacket was stained and unwashed, and his face was unshaved and rough with some budding stubble. Of course Keith wasn't exactly clean-shaven either.. but he kept it up so it looked good. Lance on the other hand looked like a hobo who just happened to make the hospital waiting room his home. It wasn't a good look.

"Lance.. you look terrible. You gotta take care of yourself."   
  
"Hah.. is it that bad? I haven't really been paying attention…" Lance said, scratching the back of his head. 

"Yeah, it is.." Keith said, brutally honest as usual.

Lance started to get irritated. "If you're here to see Pidge she's not awake yet, so-"

"No, I'm here to see you." Keith interrupted, and Lance went silent.   
  
"Look.. I know you have a tendency to take things hard on yourself.. So I just want you to know.." he clasped a hand on Lance's shoulder, and stared him dead in the eye. His onyx irises had Lance transfixed. "You did good, man. You did your best."

Lance couldn't believe his ears. Keith spoke as though he had actually been there, watching it happen, and with such authority.. Lance couldn't help but see a younger version of Shiro in him. 

  
"I-" Lance's voice cracked, and he tried again, "I didn't.."   
  
Keith didn't let him. "No, you did. You struggle with something none of the rest of us struggle with, but even through all that, you managed to bring her back here, safe and alive, AND completed your mission. You did better than any of us ever could. Just know and remember that. You're a lot better a soldier than you think you are."

Lance let the words sink in. They struggled at first, but eventually they made it in, settling something that had long been out of place. It brought tears to his eyes, feeling that missing piece, but he knew what he had to do now, and he brought his tear-filled eyes to Keith's, surprised to see them also watering.    
  
"Thank you man…I'll keep trying." he said, an edge of finality in his voice. This was, after all, the final time Lance Serrano would ever feel as bad about himself as he did when he let Pidge slip away.

"That's all you ever needed to do." Keith said, nearly cry-laughing at the end. The relief was overwhelming, and they both reveled in it.

  
  
  


\----

  
  
  


It was three days later when Pidge finally woke up. Lance had been lounging on the couch, checking his text messages, when the nurse (the one that informed him of Pidge's condition originally, she was nice and had curly brown hair), rushed around the corner and beamed at him.

  
Lance catapulted into an upright position, his eyes wide. "Is she-" he started. 

"-Yes, she is!" the nurse finished, all but squeaking in excitement.    
  
The nurses behind the counter all woop'd and cheered, egging him on. The doctor, a petite woman with a blue ascot, smiled at him behind her clipboard, gesturing him to follow her.

Lance barely kept behind the nurse and the doctor as they made it into the room together, eyes widening as he, finally, saw Pidge's face. It was the first time he was allowed to see it in well over two weeks. It was no longer gaunt and pale at all, like it had been when Lance brought her here. Her cheeks were rosy and pink again, and her freckles blended in better with the healthier shade of skin. Her hair was a bit messy, but otherwise just as short and cute as ever, and no longer covered with purple gunk. 

He tried not to look at the most obvious feature that Pidge doubtlessly noticed herself by now, and smiled in her direction nervously. "H-hey Pidge.." he said, suddenly finding it hard to look her in the eye. "You look much better."   
  
Pidge smirked., "And you look like shit." she said saucily.   
  
"Hahaha.. Yeah, so I've been told." He smiled. He actually tried a little harder to keep up appearances after Keith left, but he still had giant bags under his eyes and unusually messy hair for him.

This concerned Pidge.

She'd noticed the change as soon as she woke up. Her right eye socket was numb, she realized. Despite that, she could still see Lance's pathetic form, and it was much more pressing an issue to Pidge than what had happened to her. He looked nervous, disheveled, and guilty. Pidge hated that look on him, and it was more severe now than it had ever been before.

"Lance-" she begun, but the doctor broke her off.

"I hate to interrupt your moment, but we have other patients to attend to and I need to inform you of your situation." The slender woman butted in, adjusting her glasses.

Pidge pursed her lips, immediately deciding she didn't like this person. "Do you have to?" she asked, one good amber eye locking with the doctor's pristine blue ones.

The doctor stuttered. "I- Well.. You should know at least how it happened." 

"But I already know what happened.. I directly inhaled the gases on that planet. The poison spread to my nasal cavaty, then my nervous system, and then infected my right eye. You had to remove it right? Or one of your surgeons did anyway. I've got to thank them later for that. That gas is a living bacterial parasite. You managed to kill the rest before they infected any of my other nervous functions. That's good at least. I'm glad I'm not dead.."   
  
Lance tensed on the other side of the room, and Pidge bit her tongue. She suddenly realized she was being too frank. The doctor may have been a bit rude, but Pidge could cool her temper. Especially with Lance listening in the corner, looking like the saddest puppy she had ever seen.

"Anyway.. do I...need any medications?" she asked, trying to lift the mood.

The doctor prescribed her with painkillers and anti-inflammatory medications, and gave her a referral to a prosthetic agency, before leaving the two alone with a very audible huff. Pidge snorted as she left, crossing her arms and shaking her head. "That was kind of rude of her, what was her deal?" Pidge asked.   
  
"I don't know.." Lance said meekly. His mind obviously wasn't in what he was saying. Pidge sighed and beckoned him towards the chair next to her bed. 

There was a stark silence between the two of them as Lance sat down in a neighboring chair, his eyes looking anywhere but Pidge's sole, transfixed amber iris. It was locked onto him though, refusing to let him go. Pidge couldn't let him go ever again. If she had just reached a tad harder, that time..

"So.." Pidge began, cutting off her own thoughts. "You took out all those Axen Heads without me, huh? Pretty brave."    
  
"Pidge.." Lance said, but she kept talking, as though boring through him.

"I should've been more alert, you know? Should've checked the planet's wildlife database. Paid more attention. It wasn't your fault Lance. You know that right? It was all mine."   
  
"Pidge, you're wrong. It WAS my fault. You weren't awake for it, but I forgot to turn on the two-way air vent. I wasted time.. Time that could've been spent getting you out of there. Getting that poison out of your system. I could've done something!" he lamented.

"Lance.." Pidge stopped him, her single golden eye soft and pleading. "You did plenty. Besides.. even if you did everything by the book, you still couldn't have saved my eye." she said.

"What?" Lance asked.

Pidge covered it with her hand, sighing softly. "There wasn't enough time. The infection started spreading within three minutes of my visor cracking. It got to my eye in ten. You pulled me out of there in fifteen, and if you'd gone as fast as humanly possible, and if I struggled more… It would still have taken us twelve minutes to get back. Way too long to save my eye. It was doomed the minute that thing grabbed me." 

Lance fell back in his seat, not sure what to feel. A sort of numbness took over him that wasn't too pleasant, but not very unpleasant either. Then a jolt took over him. Laughter. He began to laugh. Quietly at first, and then louder as Pidge's expression grew sourer. 

"What- what's so funny?" she asked, frowning at him. 

"It's just-" Lance said, wiping a tear from his eye, "That I'm so glad you're back. Only the genius, Katie Holt would run the numbers on her own demise." 

The girl in question blushed furiously, mostly at being called by her own name. "Don't call me that." she said, and then grit her teeth. "And it wasn't my demise. I'm still here aren't I?"

"Yeah, yes you are." Lance grinned. 

Pidge folded her arms. He looked dumb grinning at her like that, almost like how he used to look at All-

  
"Pidge!" Lance exclaimed suddenly.   
  
"Uh-- yes Lance?" Pidge asked, caught off guard.

"Do you.. want help? You know, with, what you're gonna do next?" Lance asked gently, his tone helping Pidge to relax.

"What I'm gonna do next.." Pidge mumbled softly. She hadn't really thought hard about it yet, but now that Lance mentioned it, she did have an idea. 

"Oh.." she smiled shrewdly, meeting Lance's eyes with her own. "Of course!" she giggled, "Of course you can help. In fact, let's get Hunk in on this too. He knows biology inside out, that guy."   
  
Lance's smile turned into a full-tooth grin, and he bounced up and down in his chair several times nearly shrieking, "Yes! Yes, I'll call him up right now!" 

  
  


Lance exited the room with more enthusiasm than Pidge had seen him put towards anything, even the ladies, and Pidge slank back into her pillow, feeling relieved. The silence in Lance's wake gave Pidge a minute to breathe and think. Think about everything that went on the last few days and all the painful things she must have missed. She tried to recall what exactly happened on that gaseous planet, but it only came in snippets. She did remember losing her footing, and feeling her helmet crack when it hit a rock...

And then it all came back to her suddenly, like a cord plugging into an electrical socket. She remembered inhaling the poison, and the sheer pain that it caused, the colors she had seen.... She remembered seeing the Axen heads, and feeling their slimy tendrils wrap around her, closing in with the threat of death….. She remembered the sounds of shrieking, slicing, and horrifying squelches, and the sound of Lance's heavy breath.

  
And then she remembered Lance.

A firm hand pulling her from the ooze. His hand, warm and hopeful and full of strength. 

Even stronger arms lifting her off the ground and into the air. HIS arms, shaking, but determined.

The trees whizzing past in a blur of purple, with just the slightest hint of blue at the edge of her vision. His cobalt blue helmet, uncracked, keeping him safe. 

Then Lance's panicked face. His royal blue eyes, tearful, dreading.

She remembered wanting to lift a hand to wipe away those tears.

She remembered Lance breaking down, when Pidge could barely move.

She remembered…that it was her fault.

  
She remembered…. _ Lance _ .


	4. Okay With It

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for reading this fic! Every comment and kudos means so so much to me. I know voltron has been over for a while now but it still has a big place in my heart, and so does every one of the lingering fans and followers. I hope you guys enjoyed this little plance piece, and will follow my future fics as well!

Lance returned to the room to find a very much frantic Pidge, rushing around and digging through her stuff like a Luxian molerat through crystal shards. "Woah woah woah, easy there Pidge! What are you doing?" he asked her, "You should be in bed."

"I'm.. looking for.. my laptop.." Pidge said between breaths, each time moving something and looking deeper and deeper into the bagr. She turned toward him suddenly, eyes slanted and dangerous. "I need to start drafting my designs or else I might be too late to save my optical nerves." she said, panic glinting for a brief moment behind her eyelid.

Lance's eyes widened, and he looked like he was about to say something, but Pidge turned back around before he could even try. A few minutes ago, she wouldn't of cared if she managed to save her right-hand eyesight or not, but now that she thought about it (and Lance), she had no other choice.

  
_ I don't want to see Lance like that ever again.. _ . she thought.  _ I've got to do this. _

Lance stooped down to Pidge's eye level, crouched on both knees. He searched her eye for a silent moment, and thought about what she said. It made sense that Pidge would want to save her eyesight as soon as possible, being impaired like that... But.. he couldn't help but wonder why she was so frantic about it all of a sudden. It was odd. Pidge seemed calm and collected about building her eye before, but now.. She seemed rushed. 

"Pidge.." Lance said softly.

Pidge ignored him.

Lance bit his lip. 

"Pidge!" he said, a little louder.   
  
Pidge stopped, and turned her amber eye toward him. Lance couldn't help but notice that her face was strained, and that her eye didn't quite meet his when he called for her.

  
"This is really weird of you.. are you sure you're alright?" he asked softly, barely breathing as Pidge held her own lungs steady.    
  
"I'm fine." she said sharply. It almost sounded like a command, and Lance stiffened. Pidge went back to scouring through her things like nothing had happened, and it was then that Lance got angry.   
  
"Pidge-" Lance snapped. He grabbed her by the arm to stop her, and suddenly all hell broke loose.

Pidge got a wild look in her eye, and before Lance could tell what was happening, he was on the ground, dazed and wheezing, and coughing at the sudden weight on his chest. Straddling him was a very angry, very sharp ball of fury, hands cuffing his shirt in fistfuls of white cotton. 

"Y-you……" Pidge stuttered out, breathing erratically, "You're an IDIOT.." 

Lance smiled nervously. "Yep," he confirmed, "that's me."

  
"I don't mean your BRAINS, Lance..you are so much.. smarter than you think. All that's holding you back from being a genius is your own insecurity." she said quickly, anger and frustration rolling off her in waves. "If you'd just love yourself a little more! And had a little more confidence in yourself! You wouldn't need me to help you.." she said, and Lance could've swore he saw a tear roll down her hot cheeks. "You wouldn't need me at all…"

Pidge's words were all a whisper, but Lance could hear them clear as a bell. They rang in his ears like a siren, stinging at his insides with a thousand tiny needles.

He grabbed her hand again, and this time, Pidge didn't react.   
  
"Pidge… Don't say that. I've always needed you, you know. I've been a coward for so long, and you.. you lost an eye because of me…  _ You're  _ the one that doesn't need me.  _ You're _ the one that's stronger and smarter than everyone else. How could I possibly not need you? The whole universe needs you, Katie.." 

"Don't call me.. Katie.."

Lance could barely hear her words now. They got closer to him with each breath, until her final words tickled his cheek.

" _ I do need you too though Lance. I need you all the time.. _ " 

Lance wasn't even sure he heard her correctly. The next thing he knew, her forehead brushed his, and their eyes met, searching each other for the emotions, the souls, behind their pupils.

Lance leaned forward, breath hitching, when a sudden brass voice broke up their moment.

"Lance…? Pidge…? Are you guys in here?" 

Lance and Pidge vaulted away from each other, knocking over Pidge's bag in the process and watching in horror as its contents spilled all over the floor. Unfortunately, this made a noise loud enough for Hunk to hear.

"There you guys are!" Hunk said, making his way toward their side of the bed. "What are you guys doing on the floor?" he asked. 

Lance began sweating, but Pidge, a natural-born liar, began digging through her things as though that's what she was doing the whole time. "We were just looking for my laptop Hunk! We want to get started as soon as possible," she said, not a drop of sweat on her. Lance eyed her enviously.

  
Hunk appraised her with a stern frown. "You were gonna start without me? Mean!" 

"We weren't! We just wanted to make some notes and start our plans." Pidge protested.   
  
"I think that counts as starting without me." Hunk rebuked.

"Well you're here now," Lance said, grudgingly taking the task of mediator between the two friends, "so why don't we start together?"

"Yeah!" Both chimed in at the same time, then broke into laughter. It was reassuring to finally have the Garrison trio back together, Lance realized. He'd gone so long without it.. All three of them reveled in the unity, talking and joking and gently harassing each other as laptops were pulled out and notes were taken.

  
  
  
  


\---

  
  
  
  
  


Lance never once felt useless or dumb during the process of constructing Pidge's new eye. He thought he would. He thought there was no way they'd need him for something so scientific.. but… there were so many jobs that needed to be done, even Shiro and Allura would sneak in to Pidge's lab from time to time to help. Lance found himself holding wires, passing tools, and even getting to build little pieces of the inner mechanism with Pidge's instruction. It was just the kind of hands-on stuff that he could handle. And since he apparently had steadier hands than Pidge, he was mainly the one in charge of the construction.

It made Lance.. proud..

On the final day of construction, Pidge wandered over toward Lance cautiously, fingers hovering over the eyepatch Allura made her. "Is the luminance lens in place yet?" she asked softly, peering under Lance's elbow to catch a glimpse of the eye.

"Almost!" Lance reported. "Just one final fusion.." Lance said, concentrating. He welded the final pieces together skillfully, and removed his goggles to beam at Pidge. "It's all done." he remarked gleefully, smile wider than it's been in months. 

Pidge let a smile dance across her lips too, leaving Lance a bit transfixed. There was a short silence, before Lance realized Pidge was waiting for him to say something else, and he stuttered, trying to fill the awkwardness in the gap.

"Uhm.. Are things all ready on Hunk's end?" Lance asked her, a small bead of sweat sliding down his cheek. 

To Lance's dismay, the question made Pidge's smile dissipate. "Yes..." she began hesitantly. 

Lance waited for it.

"But…"

"Pidge.. what is it?" he voiced. Concern flooded from him like water from a dam.

"It's just that… I really wanted you to put the eye in, Lance." Pidge said. Her words were soft and endearing, but they filled Lance's stomach with dread.   
  
"Me?" he asked incredulously, finger pointing at himself. "I have no knowledge of biology! That's Hunk's domain. I... I'd have no idea what to do!" Lance said, his voice tampering on panic.

Pidge hurriedly hushed him, putting a slender finger up to the line of his lips. "Relax, Lance, relax! I'm not asking you to do the surgery. Just, when Hunk gives you the signal, you put the eye in, and the magnets will do the rest. That's all." she said, certainty reinforcing her voice. Her words flowed through Lance like a calming wave, but Lance was still a little bit on edge.

  
Lance looked at her, somewhat hesitantly, but mostly longingly.. "You really think I can do it?" he asked in a whisper.

Pidge's smile returned, rekindling the fire in Lance's chest. 

"I absolutely do." she said at once.

\---

Lance watched from the window, concern etching gradually into his features like he were made of clay. He was dressed in pristine white hospital scrubs, freshly laundered and smelling faintly of soap and plastic. Behind the transparent glass, Lance's large samoan friend was preparing with the rest of the nurses as the team's head technician. He was dressed in similar attire to Lance, his hands gloved, and was waiting for permission to start.

Then the surgical expert entered the room, sweeping expressions of awe and admiration behind her. She was short, but astute, with square-framed glasses settled snugly on a slightly down-turned nose. She smiled at Hunk as she entered, her teeth as white and pristine as the room.

"Alright Hunk. We've gone over this many times, but you know what to do right? No last-minute thoughts?" the doctor inquired. Lance realized she was waiting for Hunk to back out. Just how dangerous was this surgery? 

Hunk nodded, a look of determination written clear across his face. It was too late to back out now, Lance realized. He would just have to see this through.

"And is your friend over there the one that's going to..?" she trailed off, head tilting towards Lance.    
  
Lance smiled sheepishly and waved. 

Hunk nodded. "Yep, that's her boyfriend. She wanted him to be the one to put it in."

Lance gaped, pressing the switch on the intercom. "I am NOT her boyfriend!" he protested.

A few of the nurses giggled and Lance quickly became the world's tallest red tomato, fuming in Hunk's direction as his friend smiled slyly.

"Suuure Lance." Hunk teased, but then suddenly he was all business. "Alright." Hunk said, "Let's get this thing started."   
  
Lance watched, his stomach panging as the nurses gathered around the motionless girl, pushing fluids and checking monitors. The head surgeon closed in, inspecting the girl's empty socket with a look of scrutiny.

"Hunk, sensory inputs please." She commanded, and Hunk obliged by handing her three small metallic objects. 

It was hard for Lance to see from where he was standing, but he guessed those would be what connected to her optic nerves. The eye wouldn't work after all if it weren't connected to her nervous system.

Then the doctor took a scalpel, and Lance tore his gaze away.

Lance sat down hard on the bench in front of the window.  _ Breathe.. _ He told himself.  _ Breathe. They'll need you in twenty minutes so you gotta keep it together. _

Lance forced his gaze towards the clock on the wall instead. It was the old-fashioned round one, like the one his grandmama had at home. He didn't know why they still made them, since digital clocks were easier to read and cheaper, but for some reason they still taught kids how to read them in school, and still sold them in stores for people to use.

_ They'll be done in nineteen minutes _ . he told himself..  _ 18:59… 18:58… _

_ \-- _

Lance thought of the first time he'd met Pidge. He read her name aloud on the assignment board, and her neutral tone called to him from behind.    
  
"Right here." she had said, petite form smiling stiffly at them from the other corridor. 

Lance immediately felt an odd attraction toward the small cadet. He.. (or She, but he didn't know it at the time) was small, had rounded glasses on, and an endearing look. Lance wasn't sure why, but the way he folded his hands in front of himself after calling them sent butterflies whirling in his chest. He immediately began showing off to whoever this person was. He boasted about his position, and insisted that they began bonding as a team right away, both wanting to impress the younger cadet, and hoping to find out more about him. 

But Pidge Gunderson was… hard to please.

\--

_ 15:42… 15:41… _

  
  


_ \--- _

This only made Lance want to try harder.

He remembered finding out Pidge was a girl. The way she flinched when he screamed about it, and the hurt he had felt when he realized she'd been keeping this secret the whole time. She didn't trust him yet, and Lance was bitter about it at first. But, eventually, as they bonded, Lance came to understand. Lance didn't want to fight aliens or save the universe, he wanted to go home and eat his mom's cooking. He wanted to feel his home planet's sand between his toes, and taste the scent of the ocean on his lips.

  
Pidge felt the same way. She missed her brother's hugs, and her father's firm words. He could tell by the way she squeezed Matt when he came home to her, and the tears in her eyes when her father told her he was proud. 

Lance could sympathize. He had missed his mother's hugs, and his siblings' smiles. He missed the feeling of being between all his loved ones, and feeling their hearts beat in unison.

But it wasn't until he felt that again.. That he realized there was one more heartbeat he was missing.

  
  


\----

  
  


_ 7:02… 7:01…. _

\----

  
  


He chased after Allura at first. Allura was pretty, endearing, and the same height as him. But she was better off with an alien prince, the same hierarchy as her. Lance never had much to offer, and he knew that the differences between them, not just status and rank, would prove too much. Allura was gorgeous, but her personality just didn't match with his. And, as Pidge would put it, there was no chemistry.

_   
_ He wondered if she thought he and him had any though.

Pidge was also different from him, but so much more.. entrancing. The science she pulled off was more like magic in its own right, and always had him mesmerized. Her determined look pulled him in, made him want to know more.. The freckles on her cheeks were like their own star maps, ever swirling and changing and showing new roads.

\---

_ 2:01… 2:00…. _

_ \--- _

Lance was never sure what to make of her attitude. When she agreed to join the Garrison task force with him, Lance was perplexed. Why would she want to work side by side, with just him? No Hunk, no Matt, no Samuel or Colleen. Just Pidge and Lance. Katie and the sharpshooter. The one that could hit a target from a thousand yards away.. but could never hit the right marks in life. 

Sometimes Pidge would be endearing and nice to him, and other times she was a miniature temple of fury, a force to be reckoned with. Through it all, though.. Lance couldn't stop thinking about what drove the whirlwind behind her mind. He wanted to know more, see more, and learn more about her.  __   
  


Katie Holt was everything to him. 

  
  


\---

_ :02…. :01…… _

  
  


_ \--- _

This thought drove him to his feet as he heard Hunk's deep call from behind the glass. He strode towards the table shakily, reaching for the eye that Hunk was offering him with gentle, yet calloused hands.   
  
"Just place it in… the magnets will do the rest." Hunk reminded him.

Lance steadied his hands as best he could, and placed the small device in the abyss of Pidge's right socket. He heard a click, and then an electrical sound as the eye powered up. It glowed for a second, looking at him, and seemed to register his presence softly, before the Nurse took the tape off Pidge's eyelid and allowed it to close over the eyepiece. It powered off automatically, the green glow subsiding as she slept soundly.

Lance let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Did.. did it work?" he asked.

The smiles around him seemed to answer his question, but the doctor voiced the answer for him anyway, "Yes Lance, it worked. She should be able to see perfectly fine out of that eye now, if the tech is correct."

Lance remembered the way the eye seemed to register his form, and the way his own reflection stiffened as it searched around the room briefly, before resting squarely back on him, and letting the nurse pull the eyepatch back over the eye.

"It's correct alright.." Lance whispered quietly, his own eyes verging on tears. "Pidge designed it."

  
  
  


\----

  
  
  
  


Pidge awoke to the sound of soft breathing, the air of it tickling her cheek. She remembered the nurse putting the gas mask on her face and telling her to breathe deeply, and the sight of Lance smiling nervously at her from behind the window.

_ Lance _

Pidge's eyes flew open, and she bolted upright, gasping as the world spun around her for a startling minute. There was an odd divide in her vision, like part of it was organic, and another part was... from a computer screen. There was a slight green haze to it too, but Pidge could fix that later.

She touched her right eyelid curiously, testing the way the eye felt in her socket. It was cold and metallic in places, but warm and buzzing in others. It was an odd feeling, having part of her eye buzz and whir as she looked around.

That's when she noticed the soft brown-haired boy sleeping soundly next to her bed, his hand entwined with hers..

All the blood in her body shot to Pidge's cheeks, heating them up. She laid back down against the pillow behind her gently, not wanting to wake Lance up. He slept so peacefully.. it was hard to believe he was so nervous before. Pidge couldn't resist. She worked her fingers through his hair, smiling down at him, a warm feeling rising in her chest as well as her cheeks. "You did good Lance.." she whispered.

"Mhmm.." Lance mumbled, and Pidge resisted the urge to chuckle. He smiled and drooled on the blanket, mumbling, "Thanks Katie." in his sleep.

Pidge felt her blush deepen, but she didn't object to the name. No… 

  
For once, she was okay with it.


End file.
